Immaculate control of flight and turn made Dilip Doshi a much-respected left-arm spinner in English county cricket some time before he donned his country's colours. In another age, Doshi might have gone on to play 100 Tests for India. But like Rajinder Goel and Padmakar Shivalkar before him, he was doomed to play out the bulk of his career in the immense shadow of Bishan Singh Bedi. An intelligent and patient bowler, Doshi was effective on even the most placid tracks. He played his first Test in 1979-80, when he was 32, and immediately became Kapil Dev's main foil in an emasculated attack. For the next three years, he was an ever-present figure, glasses gleaming, and reached 100 wickets in only 28 Tests (he and the legendary Australian legspinner Clarrie Grimmett are the only two to reach that landmark after making their debuts past 30). Doshi's uneasy relationship with Sunil Gavaskar - especially during the Pakistan tour of 1982-83 - was primarily responsible for his Test career running into a brick wall.
Dileep Premachandran